Between Reality
by AshRain114
Summary: In a world where Annabeth is brunette, Hades is a rock star, and Grover is a major player, a book drops out of nowhere. Now four very confused characters have to read about the life of one Percy Jackson, whose world is very different from the one they know. Movie!verse reads Book!verse.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Okay. I know what you're all thinking. "Dear lord...another of these?" Trust me...I know. I'm thinking the same thing and I'm writing the thing.**

**Its been done a hundred times...probably even more. But I really just couldn't get this idea out of my head.**

**If you're here looking for movie bashing, you really aren't gonna find it. I'm writing this under the assumption that the movie is an alternate reality.**

**Also, remember that the characters are supposed to be in character with the movies, not the books. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, books or movies. The Bold Script all Belong to Percy Jackson and the olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riorden and I make no Claim towards having written it or owning it in any way. All Characters belong to mister Riorden. **

**Chapter 1**

Percy grunted as he swung between the bars from one hand, balancing his sword in the other, and trying to evade the other swords – all while attempting not to fall the 10 feet to the ground below. While the fall wouldn't kill him, it would hurt like hell.

Hero training sucked sometimes.

Grunting, he pulled himself up with his arms and swung up onto the monkey bars. He heard a swoosh and immediately ducked as a sword swung over his head. He turned – retaliating – hitting the Son of Ares with the flat side of his blade, and watching as he crumbled and fell to the earth.

He saw a couple children of Apollo quickly pick him up on a stretcher to take him to the infirmary.

Percy twisted to face his second opponent, but she was already gone. He turned around, but couldn't see her. Finally he looked down. His eyes widened as he noticed her hanging from the bars below him.

Now what was she up to?

Faster then he could comprehend she brought her leg up, wrapped it around his upper thigh and pulled down, hard. He yelped as he lost his balance and his face slammed into the metal bar.

Pulling herself up onto the bars, Annabeth quickly pulled her knife and held it to Percy's throat. He groaned, realizing he'd been beaten.

"Yield," he muttered. She huffed in satisfaction and helped him up. He wiped the sweat off his face, and blood came with it; his nose was bleeding.

"Sorry," Annabeth said, not sounding very sorry at all. He shrugged, then made his way to the ladder to climb down.

"Percy!" One of the Apollo guys yelled when he reached the bottom, but Percy just waved him off. His nose was bleeding, not broken.

"Percy, you're improving," He looked up to see Chiron standing there in his usual leather attire with a sword strapped to his belt. The brown centaur, leaned heavily on his staff. Percy just grimaced. Annabeth always wiped the dirt with him, unless of course they were near water - but that was a whole other story.

"Hit the showers," Annabeth said, tying her brown hair back with an elastic "You stink." Then she walked away. Percy just shook his head. Good old Annabeth.

But before he could go anywhere he was encompassed by a white light. He put his hand cover his eyes to block most of it, but he could almost feel it burning his retinas.

As soon as it appeared the light dissipated. Quickly he clicked his Pen sword and it grew to full length. He held it out, bracing for attack.

When his vision cleared he found that Annabeth and Chiron had the same idea, and where now both holding swords. Grover was there was well, looking around blinking.

"Okay, I may not be the most observant satyr, but I know I was not just here a second ago."

Percy was very inclined to agree with him.

The room was old, whatever it was. The walls were painted yellow, but the colour was peeling. The floor was blue carpet that was missing in some places to show linoleum underneath. A couch with multicolored plush cushions leaned against one wall, a vending machine against the other, and a small wooden coffee table in the middle.

Percy frowned as he noticed a hall and went down to explore. Holding his sword offensively he noticed a kitchen, bathroom and six bedrooms. He walked back to the main room when he had determined there were no monsters.

"Nothing," He said. Annabeth didn't relax. Her grey eyes still searched around the room and the grip on her sword tightened.

Gods, she was great.

"What's this," Chiron said, pointing to a box on the table. Percy was pretty sure it hadn't been there a second before.

Annabeth stepped forward carefully, opening the box with her sword. She looked inside and picked out what seemed to be a note. She pushed her hair out of her face.

"Not everything is as it seems," she read, "For every choice that is made, a separate road is broken and a different trail is made. Your trail lead you to where you are today, however these books chronicle a very different life of your very real counterparts. Enjoy" She flipped the note over to see if there was anything on the back.

"That was nice and...cryptic," Grover said, chewing on a candy bar, "What books?" Annabeth reached into the box, and pulled out a book. She read the cover.

"It's in Greek." She said with relief. Percy sighed, trying to read in English was a huge pain in the ass. "It's called 'The Lightning Thief."

"Gee, I wonder what that's about?" Percy said sarcastically. "Do we have to read it?"

"I would think so," Chiron said, getting comfortable, "Whoever has the power to send us here did not do so for no reason." Percy winced. He was afraid of that.

"Well, it's not very big," Percy muttered reluctantly, "Might as well just get it over with"

Annabeth, Percy, and Grover (who had raided the vending machine) all sat on the couch, which groaned at the weight. Percy wasn't particularly confident that it would stay together.

Annabeth sighed and opened the book.

"Okay here we go," She sighed.

**"I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher"**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's another chapter. Cause I felt bad leaving it at that.**

**Disclaimer:I don't own Percy Jackson, books or movies. The Bold Script all Belong to Percy Jackson and the olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riorden and I make no Claim towards having written it or owning it in any way. All Characters belong to mister Riorden.**

**Chapter 2: I accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher**

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"I dunno," Percy said, "It's kind of awesome," he paused, "Well... When I'm not almost dying that is."

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"That is true more often than not," Chiron stated sadly.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"I still wish that it never happened." Annabeth muttered quietly to herself.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Hey! It's from Percy's point of view!" Grover grinned.

"Wonderful." Percy mumbled sarcastically.

**I'm twelve years old.**

"Um... No I'm not; I'm sixteen," Percy said, looking around the room as if asking everyone to confirm it for him.

"The note did kind of say this was an alternate reality." Annabeth said. "Maybe something happened to you when you were twelve that didn't happen in this reality." Percy nodded. Yes that must be it.

**Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

"Oh come on," Percy said, "It was a public school. I'm not a 'troubled kid'." He paused, "And wasn't that a high school? Not a middle school?"

**Am I a troubled kid?**

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Seems you disagree with yourself," Grover laughed.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Oh hey," Percy said, pointing his finger, "I remember now. Wasn't this when Mrs. Dodds went all psycho?"

"I think it was, Perce." Grover said thoughtfully.

"But I'm twelve!" He yelled, "I'm gonna get killed!"

"There's still an entire book," Annabeth said, "I think you'll be fine."

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

Chiron chuckled.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Yeah, that's Chiron," Annabeth said. She still had her hand on her sword, but it was much more relaxed.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Trouble? Who me?" Percy pointed to himself. Grover just snorted.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"Percy!" Grover called, "My man! Why don't you tell me these things!" Then he broke down laughing. Percy just grumbled to himself about how it was an accident.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"Seems like you were quiet the trouble maker" Annabeth said, with a raised eyebrow. Percy just gave her a cocky smirk and shrugged.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Ketchup?" Annabeth asked. "With peanut butter?"

"Okay, that's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard." Grover said.

**Grover was an easy target.**

"Hey!"

**He was scrawny.**

"I'm not scrawny!" Grover said, "All this" He pointed to his arms, "All muscle, baby!"

**He cried when he got frustrated.**

Now Percy was just out right laughing.

"Oh that's right, laugh it up you." Grover muttered angrily

**He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

Now even Annabeth was laughing.

"Oh just you wait until you're described." Grover threatened. Chiron gave them all amused looks.

"Alternate reality." Percy said, "This is gonna be great."

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Oh man, at least we have something in common." Grover said dreamily, "Hmm...I love me some Enchiladas."

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"Not in my hair I don't!" Grover muttered.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

"Okay this part I remember," Percy said.

"I seem to remember someone listening to music rather then paying attention." Chiron said.

Percy grinned sheepishly.

"Never stop paying attention to your surroundings Percy," Annabeth chastised, "It's a sure fire way to get yourself killed"

Her intense stare creeped him out a bit, so he nodded and hoped she would get back to the book.

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

"Well that's different," Percy whispered to himself.

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"Oh gods it is her!" Percy said. Then frowned, "But I definitely didn't have her until I was 16."

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher**

"Math?" Percy and Grover looked at each other a little weird.

"Small details," Chiron said, "It is an alternate reality, things are bound to be different, but I'm sure the story will remain the same."

**from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"I wonder what she did to the old math teacher." Percy pondered nervously.

"You probably don't want to know." Chiron muttered

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real seri-ous, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Good job Grover!" Annabeth rolled her grey eyes, "Freak him out why don't you."

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did." Percy grumbled.

The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"Oh gross," Grover shivered, "Thats just not right."

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"God? Really Percy?" Annabeth muttered. Percy frowned.

"Is that not right?" Everyone gave him weird looked, "Never mind then..."

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," (**"Oh! I knew that!"**) I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right?**

"You know," Percy said, "I really don't think that's the best way - you know - to deal with that issue."

**But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Grow a stomach," Annabeth shook her head, "Girls like that are a disgrace to the gender."

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Nerd!" Coughed Grover. Percy leaned over Annabeth and punched him in the arm, "Ow man!"

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Chiron burn!" Grover laughed, "Zing!"

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Of course he doesn't." Annabeth said, "He doesn't know anything yet."

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

Percy frowned.

"Wait...this is different." He tried to remember back, "You continued with the tour didn't you?"

"Yes," Chiron had a worried look on his face, which he quickly tried to hide, "however I'm confident it'll lead to the same place in the end." They all nodded, still a little uncertain.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Well he may be younger, but his vocabulary is as eloquent as ever," Annabeth chucked.

"Eloquent?" Grover asked her. She rolled her eyes and ignored him.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman per-son who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

"Some things never change," Percy laughed.

"Oh man!" Grover said, "I would pwn at that game!"

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C in my life.**

"Okay, definitely me," Percy mumbled, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Annabeth here is the daughter of the wisdom goddess and she never got over a C in school either." Grover patted his back. Annabeth whipped around to glare at him.

"Grover!" She yelled, her face turning red, "Where did you get that information!?"

"Uh..."he backed away, nervously of Annabeth who was death staring him, her hand wrapped around her sword. Then he quickly stuttered something about Hermes and paperclips.

**No he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"Who knows," Chiron said sadly, "I might have been."

He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"That's no surprise," Chiron said, "Especially if Zeus and Poseidon are fighting over the Master Bolt."

"Wait." Percy said, "I thought the Lightning Bolt was stolen. How could lightning strikes cause forest fries?" Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"The lightning bolt is a symbol of Zeus' Power, not the source of it."

"Oh...then why-"

"Drop it Perce," Grover laughed, "Or we'll be here all day."

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thin**g.

"This Mrs. Dodds seems a whole lot worse then mine." Percy said.

"Yeah well, ours was just a sub," Grover said. Then he paused for moment as in thought. "Hey! Why is her name Mrs. Dodds?"

Everyone paused to give him a weird look.

"Um... It's not." Percy said slowly.

"Well yeah, I know that." He rolled his eyes, "But why did she go with Mrs? Is the monster married or something?"

Everyone continued to give him a weird look.

"Just... continue Annabeth," Chiron said.

"I'm just saying, Miss could have worked equally as well!"

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Understatement," Annabeth muttered. Percy glared at her and she just smirked back.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Thanks pal!"

"I don't care what no books say! That is not me!"

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Percy smiled at the thought of his mother.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"Okay, that's cool." Percy said.

"Can I-"

"No," Chiron cut off Grover.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Percy," Chiron said, "You certainly have a way of saying things that rivals no one else."

"Um..." Percy wasn't sure if that was a compliment, but he decided to take it as one, "Thanks?"

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"Yes!" Grover fist pumped the air, "Water powers activate!"

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Hmm." Chiron said, tapping his finger to his chin. Annabeth looked over.

"What is it Chiron?"

"It's just that Percy in our world seems to have a bit more control over the water then Percy in this book."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Well you controlled water very consciously, even the first times. Here it seems to be a by-product of his emotions."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"He's younger though," Annabeth said, "I mean. Percy in the book is twelve. So maybe he has a harder time controlling it?"

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

"And we're back on track." Percy groaned.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

"Good!" Grover said, annoyed with his other self lack of back bone.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"I don't think so!" Grover defended.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me."Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"What stare would that be?" Annabeth asked him. Percy blushed.

"Er..." He tried to give an 'I'll-kill-you-later' stare. She looked unimpressed.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Yes go after the monster. You're gonna get yourself killed Jackson!" Annabeth said.

"Last name," Grover patted Percy's arm sympathetically, "Tough break, man."

"I didn't know it was a monster!" He retorted, ignoring Grover completely

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Gee, thanks Chiron!" Percy half glared at the centaur, who sighed.

"I was there when it mattered." Chiron replied diplomatically.

"I was there to!" Grover replied.

"What exactly is going to happen here?" Annabeth asked. Grover laughed.

"Chiron went all 'macho man' on the monsters ass!"

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"And there's your first clue." Annabeth said.

"Okay seriously," Percy said, "Lay off. I'm twelve."

"Were you twelve when it happened in this reality?" She asked. Percy just glared at her. She glared back.

"I thought you guys got over this already." Grover complained.

"Just friendly competition." Annabeth said, sounding anything but Friendly.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about." Percy's tone equalled hers.

Grover turned away from the staring contest to Chiron.

"They're gonna kill each other, aren't they?" Chiron just looked at the satyr, amused.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Second clue." Annabeth said. She and Percy were still glaring at each other.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

There was a collective snort from the room.

"Oh Percy," Grover shook his head in disbelief, "You are so very wrong."

"Yeah," Percy said sarcastically, "I can't believe I didn't realize that my English teacher was gonna try to kill me."

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"And that was the third clue."

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room**.

"You were selling Candy?" Grover asked Percy, who turned away from Annabeth to blink at Grover, "You should have hooked me up."

"Grover, I was not selling Candy." Percy explained, "The twelve year old alternate self was selling candy."

"...Hey Percy?"

"Yes Grover?"

"...do you think Chiron would be angry if I-"

"Yes Mr. Underwood," Chiron spoke up from across the room, "Yes I would."

"Damn."

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

"Aaannnnndd, you're toast." Grover muttered.

"Grover!" Annabeth called, "Seriously. Stop talking."

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Well...it was more of a Flash! Bang! Monster!" Percy said, "But that description is pretty much exact."

"A fury," Annabeth whispered.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"Thanks Percy." Grover said, "Good to know you think we're strange.

"Grover," Percy gave him a blank look, "You're half goat and Chiron's a centaur."

"Your point?"

"..."

"Thought so."

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"What ho?"

"That's not what happened!" Both Annabeth and Percy spoke at the same time, before turning to Chiron.

"Children, what makes you think that I have the answer?"

"Well you're the one who threw the pen!" Percy explained.

"I do not think that that is me, any more then that boy is you Percy."

"This is giving me a migraine..." Grover groaned.

"Do Satyrs even get migraines?" Grover glared at Percy who held up his hands in surrender, "Never mind then."

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Percy smiled, gripping his pen tighter in his hand.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"You know Percy, I think she has a soft spot for yo- OW!" Grover rubbed his arm here Annabeth had just hit him, "What was that for?"

"Stop talking!" She said.

"Whatever."

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"No way!" Annabeth said, sitting up straighter, "Your first monster kill was a fury!?"

"Is that better or worse then a Minotaur?" Percy asked.

"A fury is one of the worst monsters out there." Annabeth explained, "They're Hades torturers. They usually only haunt or attack those who have murdered their own kin, or if Hades sends them personally to attack a demigod."

Percy gulped.

"But I didn't kill it," Percy said, "Chiron chased it off." Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"I think," Chiron began, "that we should read on. See what happens next."

**I was alone.**

"What about Chiron?" Annabeth asked.

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or some-thing.**

"The Mist." Chiron muttered.

"The what?" Percy asked.

"Of course, the Mist!" Annabeth exclaimed, "That makes sense."

"What's is the Mist?" Percy asked again.

"You remember the Hydra?" Annabeth was excited, as she always was when she figured out a tough puzzle.

"I try not to."

"Remember how we didn't see it as a dragon, but as janitors?"

"Yes. It gave me nightmares for a week." She rolled her eyes.

"That was the Mist. It obscures the mortal vision. Makes us try to fit in unexplainable things into our perceived vision of the world."

"Uh," Percy's eyes bugged a bit, "In English...?" She huffed, annoyed.

"It makes us see what we want to see."

"Ohhh."

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside. It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

"The Mist isn't effecting him," Chiron said worryingly, "He's starting to realize who he his."

"Is that...bad?" Percy couldn't help but fear for this other Percy. It was still him after all.

"Very bad." Annabeth muttered

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Some things are universal," Annabeth muttered, "The Mist, Percy's weird sense of humor, and the fact that Grover can't tell a lie to save his life!"

"Not funny!" Grover said while everyone else cracked up.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Zeus must be upset," Annabeth said, "Especially since he thinks Percy is the Lightning Thief."

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, read-ing his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"You're taking my sword!" Percy yelled, obviously upset, "That's my sword!"

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Why wouldn't you just tell me!" Percy said, "That's what you did here!"

"That's a good question," Annabeth said, "Especially since he's starting to realize. Once you know who you are your sent becomes stronger."

"Yeah," Grover added, feeling left out, "That's why the Minotaur attacked almost right after you found out the truth. Your scent got more powerful. Otherwise it would have taken longer for it to find us."

Everyone looked at Chiron. He sighed.

"It is quiet possible that it's because of his age." Everyone looked confused at that. He quickly explained, "While events in this world, and characters at that matter, seemed to be different, the general physics are the same. The Mist, ADHD and dyslexia, the power of the scent. If that's true then Percy's scent as a twelve year old is no where near as powerful as it was when we met him."

"So you were trying to shield him," Annabeth said, "Keep him hidden a bit longer."

"You took my sword!" Percy said, still annoyed by the prospect of being defenseless.

"Yes," Chiron said, ignoring Percy, "He is only twelve. My other self probably hoped that he could convince Percy that Mrs. Dodds wasn't real. He could live in ignorance a little while longer."

Everyone sat and digested that. Even Percy who was still a bit grumpy over his alternate self being target practice.

"Well next time I meet that fury," Grover spoke up, "I'm gonna ask her if she's married, because if she can get a date and I can't then I am obviously doing something wrong."

**A/N: Yeah...thats it. First chapter.**

**Now I know that every single person who actually is reading this is gonna ask this at some point. "Are you gonna bring people from the book!verse into the movie!verse to read with them"**

**The answer? Yes...eventually...maybe**

**That depends on what you guys want.**

**If you do want me to add characters, let me know. And if so what character? And from which time period. To be honest I will not add book!verse Percy, Annabeth, or Grover cause that'll be confusing. But Nico? Thalia? Let me know.**

**-Ash**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**_

"Well," Annabeth spoke up after a few moments, "We could discuss this further, or I could just read on."

Everyone grumbled some form of 'read on' so she picked up the book, clearing her throat, and began.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. **

"Wow, I lasted to the end of the year?" Percy's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I thought a few days..."

"The power of ignorance," Chiron said. "It kept you safe."

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"That would have been so annoying." Percy groaned.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. **

"I'm sure I could have!" Grover protested, "If I had, you know, actually been trying."

Percy rolled his eyes, "Keep telling yourself that."

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Percy shivered. "Definitely one of the more terrifying moments in my life."

Annabeth turned and looked at him, "What about the Hydra?"

"...that too."

"The Minotaur?"

"Okay."

"And th-"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "A lot of scary shit has happened to me!"

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

"Zeus," Annabeth muttered, as if it wasn't obvious.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"And there's my dad." Percy shook his head.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

"Better then staying in class." Grover grumble to himself. Chiron raised an eyebrow at him, "I mean...Yay, school!"

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Do the teachers not know about your dyslexia?" Annabeth asked.

Percy shrugged, "They should."

"How can they expect _you_ to study for a spelling test?" She huffed.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"Ouch," Grover muttered.

"I'm used to it." Percy admitted, inwardly wincing at yet another expulsion.

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Ugh, I hate that guy!" Percy spat.

Grover chuckled, "I got a good hit on him, though."

They both laughed at the memory.

"Attacking mortals, Grover?" Chiron protested.

"Trust me," Grover stopped him, "He deserved it."

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend-**

"Best friend!" Percy clarified, and he and Grover fist bumped.

**-even if he was a little strange. **

"Okay," Grover retreated his hand, "I'm taking that fist bump back."

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good ," Annabeth said, then she had a thought, "Well..."

"What?" Percy asked her nervously.

"You're starting to believe him, it's another step towards realization." She left it hanging, but Percy knew what she meant. He was seriously starting to feel anxious for his other self.

_Please hurry up and get to camp_, he thought to desperately to himself.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. **

"Ugh, hate ants." Annabeth muttered, shivering slightly.

"Um... why?" Ants were cool in Percy's books, so long as he didn't step on an ant hill or something.

"They're too much like spiders" She shuddered. "Creepy little things." Percy couldn't imagine Annabeth, who'd voluntarily gone on a trip to the underworld, being scared of something as tiny as a spider.

However she still had her very sharp sword and probably a dagger, so Percy refrained from joke making.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes.I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried**.

"I have faith in you Percy." Chiron said, patting his arm.

"Doesn't matter," Percy sighed, "I'm still going to fail the exam."

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said"... worried about Percy, sir."**

Percy sat up straighter.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer. **

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—" **

"Kindly One?" Percy asked.

"Another name for the fury," Grover said.

"It's a misnomer." Annabeth explained, "People liked to give positive names to monsters sometimes, in the hopes that they wouldn't attack them."

"They often did the same for Hades," Chiron pointed out, "The Rich One, the Silent one. They didn't want to offend death by giving him more... disagreeable names."

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"We still do," Annabeth muttered.

Grover snorted, then tried to cover it up with a laugh.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline—"**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"Wait," Percy held up his hand, "I thought the deadline was that _I_ had to bring the bolt back. How could it be resolved without me?"

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

Grover visibly winced at that.

"Wait, are they talking about..." Percy trailed off at the dark look in the room.

"Thalia," Muttered Annabeth.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

"That would have been a shock." Annabeth said.

"Not as shocking and hearing your wheelchair bound teacher threaten to rip a monster to pieces."

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"Observant," Annabeth said, "Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"Chiron doesn't use a bow." Grover mentioned quietly.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muf-fled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

"That was kind of dangerous," Annabeth said, "What if someone had seen you?"

"I'm sure I took precautions." Chiron furrowed his eyebrows together, "And you really have no idea how incredibly stuffy it gets sitting in the wheelchair all day."

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..." **

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"I hate exams!" Grover groaned putting his head in his hand.

"Who doesn't?" Percy offered.

"You didn't have to go through high school for 5 years longer then most people."

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"Not gonna work. Satyrs can read emotions."

"Yeah, well Little P didn't know that, okay?"

Everyone looked at Percy.

"Little...P?" Chiron asked.

Percy blushed.

"It's hard separating them and us," He blurted, "Hence, Little P, Little G, and Little A."

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, **

"Three hours!" Percy cried out, "In sixth grade!"

"Jeez Chiron, torture the poor kids why don't you?" Grover joked.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's... it's for the best."**

"Ouch!" Grover looked over to Chiron, "Harsh, man!"

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. **

"You could have waited until after the exam." Percy muttered, already feeling embarrassed for Little P.

**Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

"Chiron, you need to work on your comforting abilities." Annabeth said, feeling bad for the kid. "He's probably going to take this the wrong way."

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"Told you."

**"Percy—" **

**But I was already gone. **

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Well your Dad might not be as awesome as my mom," Annabeth said, "But he's not a nobody."

"Oh please! My dad is ten times cooler than your mom."

"Guys!" Grover called, "Please for the love of Zeus stop fighting so we can finish this chapter."

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Rude." Grover spit out around the snack bar in his mouth. Percy reached around Annabeth to steal a bag of chips, but it was quickly snatched out his hand by Grover. "Hey man! Get your own snacks!"

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"What a coincidence." Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Not that that's creepy or anything."

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Oh gods!" Grover clutched a hand to his chest dramatically, "Perce, you're gonna send Little G on a one way trip to an early grave with that kind of talk." Percy laughed lightly.

"Sorry."

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Oh not much," Annabeth mocked, "Just all of it."

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

"Shut up guys!" Grover yelled to Percy and Annabeth who were unsuccessfully trying to stifle their laughs.

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, **

"Why on Earth would you make a business card in fancy writing Chiron?" Annabeth asked him. "That's like...Demigod torture."

"I don't." He said. "I make them with a family friendly font called Comic Sans." Annabeth nodded marking another small difference, while Percy stared at Chiron in horror.

**but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill **

**Long Island, New York **

**(800)009-0009**

"Keeper?" Grover said, "No. I am a Protector."

"Same thing, different name." Annabeth sounded exasperated.

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion." He nodded. **

"Mansion." Grover sat up a little straighter, "Yes, I like that."

**"Or ... or if you need me." **

**"Why would I need you?" **

"Right in the friendship!" Grover bent over like he'd been stabbed in the stomach.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Good!"

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him. **

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"Awwwe." Annabeth cooed.

Percy gave her a weird looked. "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" She asked confused.

"Act like a girl."

She raised her eyebrows and stared at him in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" Her voice was deadly calm. Grover immediately decided to run interference.

"Oooookay!" He said. "Time to play trading spaces." He stood up, all his candy in his arms. "Annabeth you sit there," She moved over reluctantly, still glaring daggers at Percy who was shying away, "And I'll just sit between you guys so Percy doesn't get killed."

"Thank you Grover." Chiron sighed, rubbing his forehead.

**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?" **

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"That's ominous." Muttered a still very terrified Percy.

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no cus-tomers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"That's... weird." Percy said.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Annabeth fell silent after reading this. Her face had gone white and she immediately forgot her anger at Percy.

"Oh no," Grover said, sounding more serious then Percy had ever heard him.

"What?" He asked. Grover turned to him.

"Have you ever seen that before!?" He half yelled, "In this reality?"

"Giant socks?" Percy joked, "I don-"

"This is not a joking matter Percy," Chiron's voice was grave.

"I uh-" He looked at them all. Grover looked like he might be sick, "I've never seen that in my life, I swear."

They seemed to relax a bit, but the air in the room remained colder then usual.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"Oh gods, Oh gods." Grover had gone slit eyed and he seemed to be shaking. Percy tried to calm him, but honestly, still had no idea what was going on.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny Jackson!" Annabeth snapped. Percy winced.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

"Son of a..." Percy trailed off. He knew what these were. "They're-"

"The Fates." Chiron spoke up.

"Like in _Hercules_." Percy said. They gave him weird looks. "Never mind."

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on." **

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." **

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"What are you doing!" Grover cried, "Get on the bus!"

"It wouldn't change anything, Grover." Annabeth patted his arm comfortingly.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

The room was dead silent.

"That's it then," Percy said, "I'm... Little P is gonna die?"

At first nobody answered him, then Annabeth leaned forward.

"The cutting of the yarn symbolizes the death of whoever the yarn belongs t-"

"I think it was pretty obvious who it belongs to." Percy snapped.

Chiron sighed.

"Percy, the will of the Fates has always been foggy and unclear. Let us finish the book before we decide anything."

Percy took a deep breath, before nodding at Annabeth to continue.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!"yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!" **

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

"Hey guys," Percy suddenly had a terrible thought, "The cutting of the yarn... I'm not gonna die right now, am I?" Chiron and Annabeth exchanged looks.

"Normally," Chiron said, "It could happen anytime, but since the book is in your view, I assume you live."

"At least until the end." Grover muttered. Annabeth glared, "Hey. I'm just saying what we're all thinking."

Annabeth ignored him and went back to the book.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Worse," Annabeth whispered.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

Almost on reflex everyone in the room, besides Percy, repeated the gesture.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

**"What last time?" **

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth." **

"Thalia wasn't your fault Grover." Annabeth reminded him. "Her scent was far too strong. You know that."

Grover pretended he didn't hear her.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?" **

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me." **

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. **

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. **

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?" **

"Somebody." Percy repeated.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already pick-ing the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

Everyone was silent.

Percy was calm on the outside, terrified on the inside. He kept having to remind himself that it wasn't him. Little P had the reaper over his head... not him. So why couldn't he shake the cold feeling that seemed to grip onto his bones?

Annabeth felt sick. She had been close to Thalia before she died and even though Percy was a son of Poseidon and sometimes very annoying, they'd been through a lot together, and she didn't want him to die.

Grover was shaken. He couldn't fail again. If two campers died under his protection, he would never get another chance.

Chiron just silently mourned for another lost hero.

"Annabeth, continue."

**A/N: OKAY! I know that a lot of people are gonna go all "Thalia wasn't in the movie!" on my ass. However to those people I respectfully disagree! And by that I mean she was mentioned in the deleted scenes (why would they delete that?)  
Anyway, all they mention is that Grover was supposed to protect her and he failed, so she died. **

**Okay, on another note, concerning reviews. I'm not gonna badger you all for reviews, however if you do wish to leave them, go right ahead. I just have one request.  
If you are pointing out spelling errors, please tell me where they are so I can fix them. I am horrible at spelling so I usually edit my work 3 times, plus have a Beta editing. If we missed something I'd love to know where so I can fix it quickly as possible.  
Same goes for any other kinds of mistakes/ confusions/ or anything that you are critiquing. All help is welcomed.**

**-Ash**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Holy alerts! Batman!. I did not expect that! Seriously, you guys are great!**

**Now I was gonna put this up sooner, but I got attacked by a wild Midterm. Actually I've been attacked by 4 wild midterms. And I'm still fighting three of them, thats how determined I am to get this chapter up.  
**

**Also, I should warn you, the doc manager was being a bit of a dick when i was trying to edit some things, especially the Bold, which as you may or may not be aware, is an important function of this story. So If any parts aren't bolded but should be, just let me know.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy jackson, His books, his movie's, his sword, his hair, his clothes, his minotaur horn, or his wonderfully endearing sarcastic attitude.**

**_Chapter_****_ 4: Grover Unexpectedly Looses His_ Pants**

"Oh, I remember this part." Percy said. "Freaked me out!"

"Oh man, the look on your face was priceless." Grover laughed.

"Yeah well, that's a normal person's reaction when their friends randomly decide to take their pants off in a flipped vehicle!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and started the next chapter before they could continue.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"You know," Annabeth began, "I didn't think it was possible to die from pure stupidity... but Percy, you might just manage it."

"Hey!"

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering, "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up-**

"That's a lie!"

"Grover... No it isn't." Annabeth gave him an exasperated look.

"You have no proof!"

**-so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

"Another difference," Percy said, "That is not where I live."

"Ok," Annabeth lowered the book, "Can we not point out every insignificant difference in the books? It's gonna just take forever. Capiche?"

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"Tough break." Grover said sympathetically.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**

"He visited you?" Annabeth sounded awed.

"I don't know... Maybe" Percy said wistfully. "I thought they weren't supposed to?"

"They're not." Chiron sighed.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Your mom's a talented liar." Annabeth pointed out, "The truth, but not the complete truth."

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano-**

"Ugh," Percy made a face at the name.

**-who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick-named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"It was disgusting," Grover said, "I think I can still smell him on Percy."

Annabeth unconsciously leaned away from Grover and Percy.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"The man pollutes even his own home," Chiron shook his head sadly.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?**"

"He asked you for cash?" Grover asked, "Dude, so not cool!"

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"I'm no daughter of Aphrodite." Annabeth wrinkled her nose, "But that is disgusting."

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens-**

"He has a job?" Percy asked, shocked.

**-but he stayed home most of the time.**

"Oh, never mind then."

**I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"Excuse me!" Annabeth pulled her knife from out of nowhere, "If you so much as touch-!"

"Annabeth you're threatening a book." Percy pointed out. She huffed, calming down slightly, but she still had her knife drawn.

"Where do pull that knife from?" Grover asked warily, as if he didn't want to know the answer to his own question. Annabeth grinned darkly.

"You really don't want to know."

"I don't have any cash," I told him.

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"At least someone stuck up for you." Grover grumbled.

**"Am I right ?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"How can you live in such filth!" Annabeth fumed, glaring at the book in her hands.

Percy just shrugged.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"I take back anything I've ever said about the state of your living space." Annabeth's face was scrunched as if smelling something horrible.

"And what is the matter with Percy's living space?" Chiron asked with a raised eyebrow at Percy.

"Nothing I uh-" Chiron's other eyebrow lifted as well, looking at him incredulously. Percy sighed, "I'll clean it when we finish..."

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

"Poor kid," Grover said, "He's got it rough."

"You and Percy went though much the same in this reality" Chiron pointed out.

"But he's twelve!"

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old.**

"Yep, that sounds like my mom." Percy beamed with pride.

"Never took you for a Mama's boy, Percy." Grover nibbled mindlessly on a chocolate bar.

"Really Grover?" Percy asked innocently, but there was a dangerous look in his eye, "Just like I don't know about that picture that yo-"

"ISN'T IT NICE!" Grover yelled over Percy, causing Annabeth to jump, "How much Perce here just loves his mother?"

"That's what I thought." Percy smirked triumphantly.

**When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"I'm impressed," Chiron said, "I do not think that even I could have anything good to say to that... mortal."

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Free samp..." Grover trailed off, "Percy, we are going to visit your mother after this okay!" Percy just laughed.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

Annabeth had a small smile on her face. Sometimes she wished she had a mother like that.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

"What an ungrateful jac-"

"Grover!" Percy held up his hand, "Trust me. Gabe is no longer an issue."

Everyone gave him looks.

"Oh Percy, do tell." Annabeth had a dangerous look in her eyes. Percy gulped.

"If the book doesn't, then I will," He concluded. She seemed appeased and went back to the book.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"Honestly," Percy said, "Just a really nice guy would do. She deserves someone to treat her nice."

"That's what she's got you for Percy." Chiron smiled at Percy, who face turned into a tomato.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started chok-ing up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my con-science, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

"Liar!" Grover called out.

"You should tell your mom, Percy." Chiron chastised.

"Well, no offense, but at that point I probably thought I was going crazy." Percy paused, "Especially since you and Grover seemed to be trying your absolute hardest to convince me nothing had happened!"

Chiron grinned sheepishly.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. "I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

Percy smiled widely.

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

"Score!" Percy yelled, "So much better then monster fighting."

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

"Just one little punch?" Annabeth asked.

"Wait!" Grover's eyes widened, "If you're going to Montauk... does that I mean I don't get to crotch shot Gabe?"

"Crotch... shot?" Asked Chiron.

"Yeah," Grover shrugged, "Canned, nut cracker, kick the on eye'd liz-"

"OH MY GODS!" Annabeth called out over Percy's loud cackling laughter, "Grover, stop talking now... please."

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step-father is just worried about money. That's all."**

"Yeah," Percy muttered darkly, "His gambling money."

"How do you afford to pay your bills?" Annabeth asked.

"Mom's job at the candy store, mostly," Percy said, "That's why she could never save up enough to go back to school. She was always paying bills and for food while Gabe gambled away his paycheck every month."

**"Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"And somewhere, a daughter of Aphrodite is rolling in her grave." Grover chuckled.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"Percy!" Grover said seriously, "You have to do it. If I don't get him in the junk, then someone has to."

"Grover, you're gonna have to take it up with Little P."

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"Well considering the apology was just drenched in it," Annabeth pondered, "He should have a 2% chance of detecting the sarcasm."

"I think you're being generous Annabeth." Grover glowered.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?**"

"Oh yeah, she knows." Percy grumbled.

F**or a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car.**

**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more impor-tant, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

"Not fair." Grover whined, "No way someone that much of an asshole gets that nice of a car!"

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

Grover and Percy suddenly started to laugh manically. Annabeth gave them weird looked.

"Do I want to know?"

"Oh you'll see." Grover had a satisfied look in his eyes.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment build-ing, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair-case as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**

Everyone started to laugh. Even Chiron let out a small chuckled.

"I can't believe that worked!" Grover said, a little breathless from laughing.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets-**

"What a horrible place," Annabeth shuddered.

"It's awesome." Percy defended.

-**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

**I loved the place.**

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

Chiron made a noise in the back of his throat, like a whinny. Percy looked at him.

"Chiron...?" He inquired.

"It's not good for mortals to get attached to gods, Percy." He said, "It always ends badly."

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"I wish I had some saltwater taffy," Grover said, looking at his candy stash, "The vending machine doesn't have any."

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than call-ing herself Mrs. Ugliano-**

"No person should have to call themselves Ugliano," Annabeth said in disgust.

"What about Gabe?" Percy asked.

"Well I wouldn't classify him as a person."

-**was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Oh goodness." Chiron muttered, "You get it from both sides."

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"Green eyes?" Grover looked over at Percy. "Hmmm... I'd call them more of a blue myself..."

"That's because they are blue," Percy rolled his eyes, "Another small difference."

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

"He really would be Percy." Chiron complemented. Percy winced, but blushed at the same time.

"He's blushing!" Grover smirked. "Look at hi-OW." He rubbed his arm where Percy punched him, "Jeez Perce, you can hit hard!"

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Annabeth noticed the bitter look on Percy's face. She sighed.

"You're not the only one who feels that way," Annabeth said. He didn't respond, so she continued, "Almost everyone does at some point. But once you look past the fact that they weren't around, you start to notice all the little things they've done for you."

**Percy sighed. He knew what she meant. All the times Poseidon had given him small hints to get out of danger. He was still unsure about him though.**

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?" I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Percy!" Annabeth glared.

"I never said it!" Percy raised his hands, "I'm sure Little P didn't mean it."

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

"Don't ask that!" Percy whined, "Trust me, you do not want to know!"

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Holy crap!" Annabeth shouted, "When you were in third grade?!"

"I don't remember that..." Percy confessed.

"It may not have happened here," Chiron said, "However given the size this Cyclops may just be a distant brother of yours, sent by Lord Poseidon to keep an... eye on you."

"Brother..." Percy whispered in disbelief. "Okay... why not."

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Didn't Hercules do that?" Grover asked. Annabeth nodded.

"Cool, I'm like Hercules!" Percy smirked, flexing his arms. Annabeth snorted.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword.**

"Yes! Do it!" Percy was starting to get nervous. Being at Montauk meant they were closer to camp, but it was also getting closer to the time when the Minotaur had attacked.

**But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

"Camp!" Grover cheered, "Best place ever!"

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp?**

"Valid question!" Percy defended.

**And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

"For good?" Percy asked. Everyone shifted.

"Sometimes..." Annabeth began, "Sometimes Demigods are too powerful to live in the mortal world. They get attacked too often; end up dead. So they stay here at camp all the time. To train... and stay safe."

"What about me?" Percy asked, suddenly nervous. Chiron gave him a small smile.

"Wait until the end of the summer, Percy," he said kindly, "We'll see how well you've progressed then."

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expres-sion that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

"Zeus and Poseidon." Annabeth muttered.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuck-led somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

"Wait... what?" Percy said, confused, "I thought we determined that Hades... didn't steal the bolt."

"We did." Chiron frowned.

"Then why-?"

"Hades is still bitter at his brothers," Chiron interjected, "Perhaps he wishes them to fight so they may weaken each other?" Percy noted that even Chiron didn't sound so sure of himself.

"Yes, that must be it," Annabeth muttered to herself.

I** ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

"Uh oh," Grover yelped, "They found you!"

"Does that mean...?"

"Yep."

"Crap."

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have for-gotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

"Oh gods," Annabeth gasped in realization. "The Minotaur."

T**hen a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

"Good I foun-Wait," He looked over at Percy, "What do you mean by 'Not exactly Grover'.?" Percy rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, why don't you ask book me?"

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!"he yelled.**

"Grover, language." Chiron chastised, although there was a small smile on his face.

"Ahh! Little G!" Grover clapped, "I didn't know you had it in you!"

**"It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

"Oh Grover!" Annabeth sighed, "You're gonna freak him out!"

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Percy asked.

"I'm always nice to you," Annabeth answered in a not-so-nice fashion.

"Not this nice." Percy said.

"Maybe I just like little P more then you?"

"We're the same person!"

"No you're not." Grover said, "I am definitely not Little G, no way, so you are not Little P."

Annabeth gave Percy a smug look.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"She knows too much about our world." Annabeth said, "Your dad must have told her." Percy shrugged.

"Possibly."

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go !"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"And that was dramatic." Grover announced. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"We are never going to finish this book are we?" She asked rhetorically. Chiron sighed.

"How about you give it to me," He said, "I'll read for a bit." Annabeth sighed in relief.

"Thank the gods." She muttered, handing him the book, being careful not to lose the page.

**A/N: And there it is.**

**I really didn't like this chapter. It was a filler, there'd no other way to put it. Next chapter will probably be up within the next couple of days, maybe even tomorrow if I'm not studying.**

**-Ash**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: ****So as you saw, there was no luck with the sunday update. Mostly because I had two Midterms on Monday. Seaking of Midterms, I'm pretty sure Percy Jackson was the only reason I ace'd my Mythology midterm. Just sayin'.  
Without any further interruptions.**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.**_

_**Chapter 5: My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**_

"Oh boy," Percy gulped. He knew what was coming.

"The Minotaur." Annabeth chimed in. She paused and looked around the room, "Is anyone else worried over the fact that he's twelve...and battling the Minotaur!"

Everyone raised their hands.

"Good," She nodded, "Just checking."

Chiron sighed, worried about Percy, and started.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind-shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"Gee, thanks." Grover glared at Percy, "Nice to know I stink."

"Grover, you had been running in the rain for hours," Chiron reminded him, "Anyone would stink."

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

**Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us.**

**"Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

"Little G makes me sound like a stalker." Grover muttered.

"You watched me, followed me home, and now you're practically kidnapping me." Percy pointed out, "If that's not stalking, then what is?"

"Protecting." Grover said around the food that he stuffed in his mouth, "Is anyone else starving?"

Annabeth sighed, "We'll check out the kitchen when we're finished with this chapter."

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

**"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

Grover glared at him.

"Really?" He sniffed, "Even across realities?" Percy blushed.

"How was I supposed to know!"

"Because I'm a satyr!" Grover declared, "And satyr's are half goat."

"Well, no offense, but at the time I had been dragged out of my bed, in the middle of a hurricane and nobody would explain why," Percy ranted, more then a little irritated, "I may have thought you were acting a bit like an ass!" Annabeth snorted.

Percy and Grover stared at each other, both breathing heavily, before Grover started to chuckle.

"Okay, point to you." He chortled, Percy grinned in victory.

"Please continue Chiron," Annabeth rubbed her forehead.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty"Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"Yeah well, call me sheep? I'm cool." Grover shrugged like it was no big deal, "But call me donkey, and we sir, have a problem."

**"Blaa-ha-ha!There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

"Really, Perce?" Grover said, "not the best time."

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

"And that's why the fury attacked you." Annabeth finished.

"Yes," Percy rolled his eyes, "I know that now."

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"Subtle Grover," Annabeth remarked, deadpanned.

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hill sand PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"Where the hell are they going?" Annabeth asked, perplexed. As far as she knew camp was in a highly forested area.

"Maybe camp is in a different spot?" Grover suggested.

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

"Smooth, Little G," Grover rolled his eyes.

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in me. "**

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you. **"

"Wait," Grover held up his hand, "Are we talking about 'you 'you', someone 'you' or 'me' 'you."

"What?" Annabeth looked confused.

"Me," Percy growled, "You were talking about me."

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

"They didn't hit it." Percy noted.

"Did you?" Annabeth asked. He frowned.

"Not exactly, there was a flying cow and-"

"A flying cow?" She asked skeptically. He nodded, very serious.

"It caused us to flip the car."

"They aren't at Camp yet." Chiron noted, "If they had crashed there, well..." Everyone understood. They'd probably be dead.

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself lean-ing forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Not a good time to go into shock Jackson!" Annabeth yelled. "Get your act together!"

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**

"WHAT!" Everyone in the room hollered.

"That didn't happen." Percy felt panic grip his throat. Little P better be okay!

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay... ."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

"Oh my gods." Annabeth gasped in disbelief "Lightning. Zeus is trying to kill you."

"He wasn't try to kill me here?!" Percy's voice sounded panicked. "Cause it sure seemed like it to me!"

"Here he demanded you bring him the lightning bolt!" She said, "in the other world, no such demand was made. That's why the other Chiron thought the deadline could be resolved without you."

Percy gulped. If Zeus wanted him dead, he had no idea how long Little P would last.

**Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

"And now I'm useless." Grover grumbled.

"Not your fault." Percy comforted.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

"My friend." Grover gripped Percy's shoulder, "You are waist deep in Da Nile." Percy just rolled his eyes.

"The Nile river?" Chiron questioned, "I do not understand?"

"Don't worry about it Chiron." Percy laughed at the Centaur's confusion.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"What?" they all asked, puzzled.

**"What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

"It's all farmland," Annabeth pointed out, "And yet there's a single tree at the top of a hill?" She gave everyone a questioning look.

"Perhaps it's simply to mark the boundary line?" Chiron supplied, "Such as the archway we have."

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

"She can't cross the boundary," Annabeth spoke sadly.

**Percy bit his inner lip. He knew what was coming. He knew now that his mother was fine, but at the time...**

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized hecouldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swing-ing at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ...**

**"He doesn't want us ," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

"Would the Minotaur leave her alone if Percy crossed the boundary?" Annabeth asked, curious. Chiron thought about it.

"In a normal circumstance, yes. However I do not believe this to be normal." He sighed, "The monster did not seek him out for challenge, he was sent."

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, ("Really Perce?" "At least I didn't say donkey!") at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

"Oh man." Grover bleated, "Could I be more pathetic!"

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover ofMuscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under-wear—**

"What did he forget to get dressed or something?" Grover half joked. No one laughed.

**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Impressive." Chiron praised, "She's done her homework."

"What?" Percy asked, wondering who Pasiphae was.

"Names have power." Chiron answered, "It can be...dangerous to say them. If you had mentioned the Minotaur by name, he would have been able to find you much easier."

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

"He's tracking you by you're scent." Annabeth commented. Everyone was holding they're breath. Maybe the Minotaur would loose them.

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops.**

"Oh man!" Grover laughed, "That's even better then what we did!" He and Percy high fived.

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"It's a good plan." Annabeth approved, "But it won't last long."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Monsters may not be very smart, but then can still learn."

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

"Are you calling me fat?" Grover asked scandalized. Percy rolled his eyes but didn't answer.

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

"Don't run." Annabeth mumbled to herself, "Stay put. Stay put."

"You know," Percy mused, "I'm not sure if you're trying to help him, or get him killed!" She glared.

"Your mother's plan was valid. You have to stay put!"

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

Annabeth let out a breath of relief.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bel-lowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

"How on earth did you kill this thing unarmed?" Annabeth suddenly asked.

"I was armed." Percy said, confused, "I had my swor-" He froze. Chiron had taken his sword.

Little P was unarmed.

Grover seemed to realize the same thing.

"Oh Styx."

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

Percy winced. He kept having to remind himself that she was fine. His mother was okay. She was at home now, totally alive.

Well...in his world she was.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

Everybody flinched, and tried to avoid Percy's gaze. Percy just sighed.

"She'll be fine." He said strongly. Everybody nodded.

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

"Really?" Grover gave Percy an 'are you stupid' look, "You're gonna taunt the monster?"

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

"Oh god." Percy groaned. "With my luck..."

"It's not gonna work." Annabeth finished.

"Oh, look at you two, finishing each other sentences al-" He stopped at the glared that Percy and Annabeth sent him from either side. He chuckled uneasily and sunk into the couch as far as he could.

**But it didn't happen like that. The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

"That's more like it!" Grover jumped up. Percy just stared at the book in awe.

"How on earth-!"

"Inborn battle reflexes." Annabeth said in awe, "Every demigod has them to a degree, but that was...wow."

**How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

"Lucky for you." Annabeth muttered.

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**

"There's no way," Grover jested, poking Percy in the arm, "Not with wet noodle arms like that."

"Hey!" Percy smacked him away, Annabeth laughed out loud.

"Don't underestimate the strength of adrenaline Grover," Chiron smirked, "especially in a demigod."

T**he monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!**

"Ha!" Percy yelled, "Suck on that! Noodle arms." He grumbled the last bit to himself.

T**he bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage**.

"Pretty much exactly the same as what I did." Percy noted.

"We took a different road." Annabeth said, "but we ended up at the same place."

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart**.

"Wait, I don't remember that happening." Percy said. Annabeth frowned.

"Well it does," She started slowly, "not while you're there though." Percy looked confused.

"What?"

"If you kill a monster, say the Minotaur, then the body would just lay there. If you came back, maybe even five minutes later the body would be gone." She shrugged, "Nobody ever really knew what happened, only that the monster went to Tartarus."

"I guess we know now." Grover shivered.

"But in their world..." He trailed off, "I thought the physics were the same. Like...monster and the scent, and only events were different?"

Chiron sighed, "I guess not." The centaur looked worried.

**The monster was gone.**

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm-house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

"Thanks man," Grover said softly. Percy just gave him a quick nod.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man**

"Chiron!" Percy smiled weakly.

**and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

"Blond hair?" Annabeth mused, "Like a princess...Must be a daughter of Aphrodite."

"Yeah but who?" Percy asked, "And what does she mean by 'the one'?"

Annabeth furrowed her brows together, but didn't answer.

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

Dead silence.

Everyone stared at the book in shock.

Finally Grover brought his hand slowly to his mouth, hoping Annabeth wouldn't noticed the laugh that threatened to burst out.

"Don't," She pointed at him threateningly, "Don't you dare."

Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and with a short 'sorry' he burst into laughter, Percy quickly joining him.

"You're blond!" Percy choked. Grover stopped for a second to look at Annabeth critically.

"I just can't see it." He shook his head. Annabeth's seethed.

"If either of you tell a soul about this," He pulled her dagger out of it's mystery sheath, "I will not hesitate to skin you alive. Is that clear?" They stopped.

"As crystal." Grover squeaked, then coughed,

"My mouth is sealed." Percy pretended to zip his mouth shut.

For a few more minutes it was silent. Then Percy and Grover burst out laughing again.

"I can't believe she's blond!"

**R&R**

**-Ash**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: ****Wow, I suck. Okay I really meant to post this on sunday, I finished on saturday and closed my computer...without saving. Why? Why would I do that? I don't even know...but I did. So after that I rewrote it on sunday, and I would have edited it on monday except for the enormous amount of classes I have on that day.**

**So by the time I got back to my dorm (7pm) I was exhausted, and I had a test on Tuesday, so I had to study. But then I got distracted by the midnight release of the Iron Man 3 trailer and went into a state of mental shock.**

**So two days later I recovered enough to finish this chapter.**

**So yeah...here it is...**

**_Chapter 5: I Play Pinocle With A Horse_**

"Oh my gods, I'm stuffed." Grover sat down on the colourful couch, "It's gonna take years to digest this food baby." He rubbed his stomach.

Annabeth mouthed the words '_food bab_y' to herself in disbelief.

They had just made their way back from the kitchen, where they had found the cupboards stuffed with every kind of food they could imagine.

"You shouldn't have eaten all those Twinkies," Annabeth said, sitting down on the middle cushion, "You're going to make yourself sick."

"I don't care," Grover burped, "it was worth it." Annabeth leaned away from him.

Percy sat on the other side of Annabeth with a sigh. "Best meal of my life." He complimented.

"Percy...did you have any Twinkies?" Grover asked, "I've never had them before...they were so good."

"Grover, you ate all of them."

"Oh right, I did."

"Men." Annabeth shook her head, "Please continue Chiron."

Chiron chuckled at their antics, picking up the book, and starting the next chapter.

I** had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"Oh great, it's me." Annabeth grumbled as Percy and Grover snickered.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

"Why on earth would I know?" Percy asked her incredulously. She shrugged.

"I don't know."

I** managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over-hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

"Wait!" Annabeth held up a hand, "I don't know? I definitely knew here."

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

"Who is that?" Percy asked, weirded out.

"Argus." Chiron said. "He runs security."

"At least not everything is different." Grover muttered

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

"Nectar?" Percy asked. Chiron nodded, "A bit less formal then a goblet, don't you think?"

They ignored him.

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD.**

"They get camp shirts!" Grover moaned, "We should definitely have camp shirts. Chiron can we-"

"No!" Annabeth objected. "We are not getting camp shirts."

"But they get them?" Grover complained.

"Why orange?" Percy asked, causing everyone to stare at him. "I mean..it's a fine colour and all, but why not green?" Annabeth rolled her eyes in aggravation.

"Because green is the colour of Poseidon." She pointed out, "They probably didn't want to offend any gods, so they picked a neutral colour."

"Oh." Percy offered, "Okay."

**Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ...**

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

"Do you have that?" Annabeth asked Percy curiously.

"Sure do," He grinned.

"**The Minotaur," I said.**

**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

"Ouch." Grover mumbled, "Sorry about that."

"No problem Grover." Percy sighed, wondering when everyone was going to stop feeling bad about that.

**He looked down.**

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees,**

"So I guess there is a forest there as well." Percy pointed out.

"My guess," Chiron theorized, "Is simply that the camp is located at a different location on Long Island, more towards the Northeast in the farming regions."

"Makes sense," Annabeth noted.

**a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"Hey bud," Grover comforted "You're not a bad satyr!"

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

Percy looked thoughtful.

"Styx." He said. Thunder rumbled outside. "Cool."

"Not cool!" Annabeth smack him around the head, "Do you want to bring Zeus' furry on us?"

"So," Percy rubbed his sore head, "Is that like...a swear?"

"Yeah." Grover said, "But darker."

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

"Not yet!" Grover smiled proudly, tilting his head so that everyone could see his horns.

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

"Pretend you were seventeen?" Annabeth asked skeptically. "He's twelve. Percy here is sixteen and I doubt he could pass for seventeen."

"Ouch." Percy sniffed, "That hurts Annabeth."

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever—looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**

"You did!" Percy and Annabeth argued. Grover shifted.

"I don't know. The council might disagree."

"Council?" Percy asked, "What council?"

"The Council of Cloven Elders." Grover said like it explained everything. He looked worried for Little G, so Percy dropped it.

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting.**

"Does it taste the same for you?" Annabeth asked him. Percy smiled and nodded.

"That stuff sounds awesome." Grover marveled, "I wish satyrs could drink it!...You know, without dying."

**Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"You're adorable." Annabeth smirked at Percy.

"Shut it, Blondie!" Her smirked turned into a glare.

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

"Why would you even put ice cubes in it?" Grover pondered, "If its a warm drink?"

"It's not warm for everyone." Annabeth said, as if it were obvious.

"It isn't?" Percy wondered.

"It tastes like whatever is most comforting to you." She explained, "Hot or cold."

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

"You're too nice sometimes Perce," Grover smiled.

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home-made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

"Mr. Who?" Percy asked perplexed.

"I have no idea." Chiron admitted, looking stumped. Everyone around the room exchanged looks.

"I guess we'll find out." Annabeth speculated.

**T****he porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance.**

"Does their camp go all the way to the water?" Percy asked.

"I don't know." Annabeth muttered.

"Cause that's huge!" He exclaimed, "Way bigger then our camp!"

"Our camp goes to the water as well Percy," Chiron explained, "However it's a dangerous trek through monster infested forest to get there."

"No thank you." Percy gulped.

**B****etween here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun.**

"Oh man," Grover moaned, "That sounds so cool."

**In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball.**

"Okay we have a volleyball pit!" Grover said, "At least something is the same."

"We have a volleyball pit?" Percy puzzled, "Where?"

"Yes Grover," Chiron chimed in, "Where?"

"Uhh..." Grover quickly tried to come up with an excuse, "You know...Im my...imagination?"

"He's not buying it," Percy whispered to him.

"Thank you," Grover muttered harshly, "I hadn't noticed!"

"We will be speaking later about this Grover." Chiron informed. Percy caught the amused twinkly in Chiron's eyes and chuckled.

**Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"Pegasi!" Annabeth smiled, "We have a number of them here as well."

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

"The blond girl, huh?" Grover echoed, trying not to smile. Annabeth just fumed.

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple.**

"Percy sure has a way of describing people." Grover grumbled, still remembering his unflattering description, "We get porky, scrawny, watery eyes, and crippled. And Annabeth here gets, '_Hair like a princess_."

"He obviously likes me better then you." Annabeth smirked.

"Obviously." Grover muttered, smirking at the way Percy's face turned red.

**He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt,**

"Oh dear," Chiron muttered.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "Is he dangerous."

"Er..." Chiron's lack of answer worried the Demigods.

**and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step-father.**

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite.**

"Camp...Director?" Percy asked, "We don't have one, do we?"

Annabeth shrugged, "If we did it would be Chiron."

**The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody.**

"Hey look, It's little A!" Grover called. Annabeth turned to glare at him.

"Do _not_, call me Little A." She the name like it was diseased.

**And you already know Chiron... ."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried. The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**

"Oh gods!" Percy cried out, putting his head in his hands, "That would drive me insane!"

"Sounds pretty good to me.."Grover said, "I'd ace that!"

"It's only awesome if you know that all the answers are B," Percy complained, "If not, then you just assume you're getting everything wrong!"

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**"Pinochle?" Grover asked.**

"It's a card game." Chiron defended, "One that I'm rather fond of myself."

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"He sounds..." Percy trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Pleasant?" Annabeth offered.

"Not really the word I was looking for."

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because,if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hit-ting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

"Observant." Chiron chuckled.

"Who-" Annabeth paused, a look of realization came over her, "Ohhhhhhh."

"Who is it?" Percy asked, nobody answered. Annabeth and Chiron exchanged looks.

"You'll see." She promised

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

"What?" Percy groaned loudly, " I am so confused! Whats Cabin 11?"

"I have no idea," Annabeth growled, "None of us know."

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"Hmm." Annabeth narrowed her eyes, "Maybe she's not so bad."

"Seems pretty much the same." Percy said, "You both have scary eyes."

"My eyes aren't scary." Annabeth protested.

"Yes...yes they are." Grover shuddered.

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say,You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.**

"In your dreams Perce." Grover laughed.

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

"Oh yeah," Grover nodded, "That's Annabeth. No doubt."

"I don't drool," Percy denied.

"Yes you do." Annabeth chuckled.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex—Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

"Oh dear," Chiron winced.

"Percy is going to get himself killed." Annabeth muttered.

"Who is it?" Percy shouter, frustration.

"You'll see." Grover said nervously.

"Wait," Percy turned to his best friend, "Even you know who it is?"

"Y-yeah," Grover stammered nervously.

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

"Is he a monster?" Percy asked. Still no answer.

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

Everyone looked to Chiron with strange looked. The centaur just sighed loudly.

"I didn't hurt him," He assured them, "Just, convinced him to take a...vacation."

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

"Yes, it was a little strange," Annabeth said, "But since a lot of people thought you were the lightning thief..."

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

"Many reasons." Grover mumbled. Percy noticed that his friend looked a little pale.

"You okay Grover?" Percy asked him. It usually took a lot to make his friend this nervous.

"Fine." Grover squeaked, the coughed clearing his throat, and continued in a deeper voice, "I'm good. Great really."

Percy wasn't convinced, "Okay..."

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**

"Pac Man?" Percy chuckled, "Seriously, who is this guy?"

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun—Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

"Ouch," Percy glared, "You know I really don't like this guy!"

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"**

"Did you actually think I knew anything?" Percy asked him.

**"It was always a possibility." Chiron said, "I knew your mother knew who you where. She may have decided to tell you."**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

Grover sat up straight, coming out of his shivering fearful state. He tuned to Chiron.

"No." Chiron said, before Grover could even speak.

"Please?"

"No."

"For the kids?"

"No."

"Come on Chiron." Percy was surprised to hear Annabeth speak up, "It gets annoying having to repeatedly explain to every single new camper."

"Yeah." Grover immediately jumped on her train of thought. "Yeah, you know. over and over and over and over-"

"Fine!" Chiron caved "I'll think on it."

"-and over and over and- really?" Grover said baffled.

"Yes."

"Score!" Grover fist pumped, "10 points to the satyr!"

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

**"No," Chiron decided."Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"—he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."**

"Way to ease him into it Chiron." Annabeth chided. Percy rolled his eyes.

"Grover was blunt like that as well," he explained, "almost gave me a heart attack."

"Yeah well," Annabeth gave both Chiron and Grover admonishing looks, "Remember Dennis?"

"Dennis?" Percy asked.

"Son of Ares." Annabeth explained, "We may have explain a little to fast, and well...long story short-"

"He feinted." Grover laughed, then straightened, "No wait, I'm sorry he 'P_assed out from manly hunger***"_

I** stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell,Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right." Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

"You eat Coke cans?" Percy asked.

"Satyrs eat everything." Annabeth answered.

"Not everything," Grover supplied, "we don't eat meat."

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God—capital G , God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

Percy jumped as thunder rolled outside.

"Don't blame us!" Grover yelled, "It's what's in the book!"

More thunder.

"Yeah whatever." Grover crossed his arms. Percy gave him a weird look.

"You can understand thunder speak?" He pointed upwards to emphasize his question.

"Well..." Grover thought about, "You can kinda pick up on the moods after a while."

"The moods?"

"Yeah."

"Of the thunder?"

"Yeah." Grover said like it was no big deal. Percy blinked at him a few times.

"Okay..."

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

**And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloud-less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

"And he's dead." Grover place a sympathetic hand on Percy's arm, "It was nice knowing you buddy."

"Okay," Percy shrugged off Grovers arm, "I'm going to assume that Mr. D...is a god?"

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"—I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody—"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't.**

"Okay, definitely a god." Percy muttered, "A god who drinks diet coke and looks like a trailer park cherub?"

"Maybe if you had paid attention in my class instead of listening to music," Chiron pointed out, "You'd have a better idea of who it is you we're talking to."

I**t was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

"Sounds awesome!" Grover said, Percy and Annabeth quickly agreeing with him. Chiron just shook his head sadly.

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some-day people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

"Low blow Chiron." Grover cringed as if hit. Chiron gave an apologetic look to Percy who shrugged it off.

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

"He wouldn't actually incinerate me...would he?" Percy asked nervously.

Chiron thought about it, "It's doubtful. Especially since you're the son of such a powerful god."

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"Oh." Percy felt a lightbulb go off in his head, "Dionysus!"

"Good job," Annabeth quipped sarcastically, "Would you like a cookie."

Percy ignored her, feeling proud he's figured it out before Little P.

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

"Oh dear." Chiron said in a tone that worried the demigods.

"What?" Percy asked slowly, almost dreading the answer.

"Dionysus isn't exactly...pleasant to be around when he's not.."

"I believe 'plastered' is the word you are looking for." Grover supplied.

"I was going to say Inebriated...but that works."

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

"A wood nymph?" Percy asked, confused.

"Sprits of the forest," Grover replied, his voice dreamy. "They're so...great."

"What grover means," Annabeth informed him, "Is that they're good looking."

"Okay?" Percy continued, "Why was this one off limits."

"Zeus took a fancy to her," Chiron rolled his eyes, "Declared her off limits to all but him."

"But, aren't both Zeus and Dionysus married?" Percy asked.

They al looked at him weird.

"Your point?" Grover asked.

"Never mind." Percy didn't think he'd ever get the way gods interacted.

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years!**

"Really?" Annabeth looked interested, "Prohibition was caused by Dionysus?"

"Yes," Chiron chuckled, "He decided that if he couldn't drink, neither could the mortals."

"That's horrible." Grover said mournfully.

**The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"I didn't realize the gods interacted so much with us." Percy said, "I thought they were forbidden from talking to their children."

"Well.." Annabeth looked thoughtful, "Gods can interact with Heroes that aren't their children...but that's rare."

"There is also the possibility that that rule doesn't exists there." Chiron pointed out, "Which is more plausible, seeing as I assume Dionysus has children there, same as here.'

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

Chiron laughed, "Yes, I supposed they do sometimes."

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

"Dingdingdingdingding!" Grover called, "We have a winner!"

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

"Oh gods." Grover thought out loud, "Imagine if Aphrodite was out Camp Director." He sighed dreamily.

"Thats the worst thought you've ever had." Annabeth's face was curled in disgust, "Remember when the Children of Aphrodite coloured the entire fighting arena pink? That would be the whole camp!" Percy and Grover gagged.

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

"Okay, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever heard of." Grover said.

"Does he actually turn people into dolphins?" Percy asked.

"On occasion." Chiron supplied.

"Awesome." He said sarcastically under his breath.

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

"I am quiet a good player." Chiron smiled at his win.

"I still have no idea what pinochle is." Grover muttered.

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk,again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

"Oh bullshit!" Percy argued, "Grover did a good job!"

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

"Poor Little P." Percy groaned, "He's gonna have to deal with him his whole life."

"**Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

"Just out of curiosity," Percy said, "Where was Olympus before the Empire State Building was built?"

Annabeth blinked, "I actually never thought about that."

"Yeah well," Percy stood up a little straighter, proud he'd thought of something Annabeth hadn't, "In the history lessons, it's obvious the gods have been here a while." Everyone looked to Chiron.

"Normally Olympus is wherever the highest point is." He explained, "When the Empire State Building was built, it moved there."

"But it's no longer the tallest building in America." Percy pointed out.

Chiron shrugged, "They like it there, so they stayed."

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like...in America?"**

"That does kind of sound crazy." Annabeth caved.

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know—or as I hope you know, since you passed my course—the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps—Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on—but the same forces, the same gods."**

"See!" Percy pointed his finger at the book, "Now that makes a lot more sense then how you guys explained it!"

"It does?" Grover looked confused.

**"And then they died."**

"Gods can't die." Annabeth said matter of fact.

"Yes, I know that now." Percy sighed.

"**Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not—and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact thatI seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**

"Actually you're taking this rather well." Annabeth pointed out, "You did here as well."

"Well," Percy shrugged, "I guess I always knew something was...weird with me. I was more relieved to find out that I wasn't crazy."

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

"Understatement of the century!" Grover laughed. Chiron blushed.

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear,**

Grover burst out laughing. Percy wanted to point out that Chiron wasn't a white centaur.

**but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him.**

"How does that work?" Percy asked, "I mean...it can't be comfortable."

"It's horrific." Chiron muttered, "A gift from Hephaestus."

"Oh," Percy stopped, "I know this one. He's the god of...fire?"

"Blacksmiths, but close enough." Chiron chuckled.

**A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

"That sounds...terrifying." Percy pointed out.

"How?" Chiron asked, slightly insulted.

"My wheelchair bound latin teacher just expanded into a horse." Percy narrated, "I'm pretty sure any normal person would think they were on drugs...or were crazy."

"Good thing we're not normal then." Grover grinned.

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"That was the longest chapter known to man kind." Grover sighed, standing up, "and if you guys don't mind. there is a bed down that hallway that is screaming my name."

Percy looked down the hall where the others rooms are, "Yeah, I'm kind of tired as well."

"Well, everyone get some sleep." Chiron instructed, Annabeth yawned.

"Yes, but keep your watch up." She ordered, "we still don't know who sent us here."

Everyone nodded, then slowly stood up and made they're way to the rooms.

**A/N So theres that chapter. Sorry it took so long.**

*****- I do not own this line. I think it's hilarious, but I know if I don't put this here someone will call me out and be all "YOU STOLE THE FUNNY FROM BLAHBLAHBLHA" So...anyone who can tell me where this quote is from wins 10 internet points!  
Anyways...**

**-Ash**


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